What if
by AnEvilRegalFostersFan
Summary: A series of one-shots - kind of - based on the premise of "What if..." Rated T for now. If an M rating is required, the chapter will be marked.


**The Idea**: A series of one-shots (ish) that fall under the premise of "What if..." I have a few ideas, but if you like this, and you'd like me to write one, leave it in a PM or review, and I'll see what I can come up with.

**CMA Legal Stuff**: I don't own The Fosters. I only have fun with their lives.

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The Honeymoon - Part 1

What if Callie had called Lena instead of calling the prison?

~*THE FOSTERS*~

They should have postponed the wedding.

That was the only thought going through Lena Adams Foster's head as she lay in the bed, staring at the stucco ceiling of the road-side motel.

They should have postponed the wedding and helped Callie deal with her feelings about the trial and its outcome. Hell, they should have dealt with their _own_ feelings about the trial and its outcome.

They should have convinced her that she needed the extra help – found her another therapist (why _hadn't_ Bill gotten back to them on that, by the way?).

No, she should have listened to Stef. _That'_s what she was really thinking. She should have listened to Stef and called the local police precinct to simply _watch_ the building – not go in and detain her, but watch to be sure she didn't leave.

She blinked her eyes, allowing two single tears to fall. Her heart hurt, and there was no comfort she could receive that would make this pain go away, except maybe seeing Callie walk back through the door and into their arms (or let's be realistic, she'd probably walk back through the door and stand there; Callie really isn't one for physical contact).

She silently wished that she'd been able to get through to the girl. She wished they'd had a better relationship with each other. Truth be told, Lena would die for the girl if it meant saving her from whatever pain she was experiencing to cause her to run away; she loved her like a mother loves a daughter, but Callie had never really been responsive to their attempts at being her mom.

No, she wasn't responsive to Lena's attempts at being her mom. Stef, on the other hand, seemed to have possibly gotten through some of the teen's tough exterior.

She couldn't lie in the bed any longer, so she stood up carefully, trying not to wake her wife (not that she thought Stef was actually sleeping), and made her way out onto the walkway, taking her phone off the charger on her way outside. She sat in the chair in front of the window, staring at the trucks parked in the parking lot. That morning, Callie'd gotten into one without any regard for her own safety (it was the only viable explanation as to how she ended up leaving without anyone seeing her), and all Lena wanted to do was chase every one of them that pulled out, searching for her girl.

In her mind, she went over every detail of the past few days, looking for some sign that this was going to happen.

What had she missed? She was the one with the Master's in child psychology; she was around teenagers from all walks of life all day, five days a week; she'd worked with teenagers when she was in college, and yet, she missed something extremely important, and now they were minus a daughter. How had this girl gone from, "Yes, adopt us!" to _gone_ in less than twenty-four hours? What happened?

She unlocked her phone and stared at the screen, willing it to light up with a call. However, each minute that passed and the screen did not move was another tear that fell down her cheek.

Then, it did. A text message…

_Marco._

Lena smiled slightly, figuring her wife had awakened and noticed the empty side of the bed.

_Polo, _Lena texted back.

_Where are you?_

_Outside._

_Are you okay?_

_Oh, sure. I'm great! Well, aside from it being my fault that our daughter is missing, that is…_erase.

"It's not your fault, Lena."

Lena jumped at her wife's voice. She turned and saw Stef standing in the doorway close enough to see what she'd typed and then erased.

Stef walked over to Lena and knelt down in front of her. "It's not your fault. We could have done a million things differently, and we still may have ended up here, or we could have done a million things differently, and ended up in a much worse place than where we are now. There was something off at the wedding – I could see it in her eyes when we were dancing – and I did nothing about that. My profession is completely based off of being able to read people, and yet I missed something, too." She took Lena's hands into her own, kissing each hand before reaching up and wiping tears off her wife's face. "We can play the what-if-blame-game all we want, Love, but it's not going to bring her back any faster. I think this is one time we are just going to have to have a little faith that someone is going to find her, and she'll come home, and when that happens, we will take her and hold her, kiss her, hug her, fix any injuries she's obtained, and then we'll ground her until she's eighty."

Lena let out a tearful laugh. "That's _if_ she comes home, Stef. CPS may not even let her come home."

Stef visibly swallowed roughly. "Maybe not, but I will fight like hell to bring her home. We may not be able to stop the inevitable, but we can try, and I'm not going to risk her thinking she had no one in her corner fighting for her." She stood and sat in the other chair, pulling it close to her wife. "We'll find her, Lena."

The brunette nodded. "That's not what I'm afraid of," she said as she unlocked her phone to once again silently demand it ring. "It's the condition in which we find her that I'm afraid of."

"I know, Love," Stef reached out and grasped her wife's arm, offering what support she could, "me, too."

~*THE FOSTERS*~

Callie stood outside of the convenience store, watching as the scantily clad girl walked away from her.

"Um," she called tentatively. The other girl turned around. "You wouldn't by any chance have a phone I could use for a minute, would you?"

The girl smirked a bit and walked back toward Callie, pulling a phone out and handing it to her.

"Calling home?" she asked as she continued to smirk.

Callie looked the girl in the eyes. "Something like that." She held the phone between her hands for a minute and called up the keypad. It took her a while, but she dialed a number. She stood for another few moments, contemplating what could possibly happen next.

_Send._

She held the phone up to her ear and waited. It barely got through the second ring when a tentative voice picked up.

"Hello?"

Callie's voice caught in her throat and she had to choke back a sob.

"Callie?" The woman's voice had become more alert. "Callie, is that you?" Another pause filled the void between them. "Sweetheart, answer me, please…" This woman was begging, she could tell.

What exactly did she say? _Mommy, I'm sorry! Please come and get me!_?

What do you say to a woman who took you in and housed you and clothed you for nine weeks – a woman who offered to adopt you – only for you to throw it all back into her face and take off?

"Callie, honey," the woman's voice came through the phone again, this time, desperate and lined with tears, "if it's you, please say something – _anything!_"

She composed herself, taking a breath before trying to speak. _I can do this! 1…2…3…_

"Yeah," she started before having to calm her tears again. She cleared the frog from her throat. "It's me."

"Thank goodness!" She heard the sigh of relief on the other side of the phone. "Stef, it's Callie!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of sound. (Lena must have put her on speaker phone.)

"Callie," came Stef's voice, sounding just as desperate as her wife's. "Callie, Baby, are you all right?"

Boy, was that a loaded question if she ever heard one.

"Callie, I need you to answer me. Are you all right?" This was Stef again – this time, more demanding.

She tried to collect herself, but failed miserably when she answered, "No."

"Are you hurt?" Stef demanded.

"Um…"

"Physically, Callie, are you hurt? The rest will come later. Do you need medical attention?"

"No. No, I'm okay…ish."

"'Ish'? Callie, 'ish' is not 'okay'. What happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really. I ache from all the walking, and I twisted my ankle earlier today. It hurts a little…"

"Jeez."

"Okay, honey, where are you?" This one was Lena. "Stef and I are coming to get you."

Callie looked around, trying to find an address. Finding none, she said softly, "Hang on a second." She journeyed into the small convenience store and asked the clerk for the address. After relaying the address to Lena and Stef, they assured her they were on their way and to wait right there.

"Don't you dare move!" was Stef's last command before Callie heard the door of the SUV close and the engine starting up.

"I won't," Callie assured the two women. "Stef? Lena?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"

There was a momentary pause before Stef's voice came back over the phone, "We know, Sweets. You just stay there and wait, and we'll talk about it when we get there."

Callie had to swallow back another lump in her throat as tears began falling again. "'Kay."

"And Callie," Lena's voice came again.

"Yeah?" she barely whispered.

"We love you."

Callie couldn't speak. They couldn't. That wasn't how this worked. She messed up; she ran away; she threw them away; she rejected them. How could they still…? She couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought.

"Callie?" Lena's voice came over the phone again. "Callie, honey, are you still there?"

_End._

~*THE FOSTERS*~

It took about an hour before Stef and Lena pulled up in front of the small convenience store where Stef's GPS brought them. As they got out of the car, Stef tried to keep her emotions in check while she looked around, first at the girls on the corner and then inside the store. She caught the look of unease on her wife's face and ushered her inside, telling her to check inside while she checked with the girls ("…and wait inside for me, okay, Love?")

Lena did as she was told while Stef made her way over to the barely-dressed females on the corner. Whipping out her phone, she called up a picture she'd taken surreptitiously of Callie.

"Good evening, Ladies," Stef began as she walked over to the group and held up her phone. She was in full officer-mode now. "By any chance have any of you seen this girl?"

One of the girls smirked at her, after looking at the picture.

"What's it to you?" the girl asked as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms.

Stef only raised her eyebrows at this. "You've seen her?"

There was a tense silence between the woman and the girl – a silence where Stef had a moment to really look at the girl in front of her. She couldn't have been older than fifteen, working the corner like it was second nature for her. She had the rough exterior that these girls generally take years to develop.

"Trix," came another voice, "cut her some slack." Another scantily clad girl walked to the front of the group and looked Stef in the eye. "What's your name?"

Stef shifted her weight slightly, mimicking the previous girl's actions. "What's it to you?"

This one didn't flinch. "We saw a girl here a little while ago. She used my cell phone to call her moms. After she hung up, she told us the names of the two moms. If your name matches either of the names, I'll tell you where she is. If it doesn't…"

"If it doesn't, you could potentially be obstructing a police investigation."

"Or I could be protecting her…"

Stef was on the defensive, "From what?"

"Name?"

The older woman took a breath before answering, "Officer Stefanie Adams Foster."

After the majority of the girls gasped and a few, "Oh, shit! She's a cop!" phrases flew around, the young girl in front of her smiled and led the blonde away from the other girls.

"That was gutsy."

"Is that one of the names she gave you?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't still be talking to you." The girl looked around. "Where's your, um, wife?"

"Where's my daughter?"

"She's safe."

Stef was becoming worried. What if Callie had taken off again, or joined up with these girls?

"That wasn't my question. My question was…"

"I know; I know…where's your daughter?" She turned toward a diner about a block away. "She's there – at Harbor Inn Diner. She was hungry, so I gave her a twenty and told her to go and get something to eat. If you look down the street, you'll see her sitting in the window."

"You sent her alone?"

The young girl shook her head. "She's there with two other girls." Seeing the look on Stef's face change from determined to concern about that fact, this girl continued, "Not all of us are in this profession because we have a choice. She has the opportunity to go home – an opportunity that at least four of us will never get. The four of us don't wish this life on anyone, and as soon as we have the means to get out, we are. She has a real chance to go home to two moms who love her. We're not about to stop that."

Stef turned back to the girl and looked into her eyes, and what she saw there was real pain. This girl had been dragged into this life and desperately wanted to get away from it.

"Thank you," she said as she smiled and reached into her back pocket. She pulled out her wallet, took out some cash, and handed it to the girl.

"I can't take that," the girl said, refusing to touch the cash. "I can't take money for information."

"No, that would be unethical on my part," Stef said matter-of-factly. "However, I am not giving this to you because you told me where to find my child. I'm paying you back for what you gave her – with some interest added on." When the girl finally took it, she smiled. "Use it wisely."

Stef thanked the girl one more time and walked back toward the convenience store where she saw her wife pacing the floor.

"Stef," Lena started, tears lining her voice, "Callie's not here!"

Stef stopped in front of her wife and simply said, "I know."

"What are we…wait," Lena processed what Stef just said. "You know? Do the girls know where she is?"

"Yep," Stef answered as she took her wife into her arms, "and we're going to go and get her right now."

"Where is she?"

Stef smiled. "She's at the diner just down the street. One of the girls gave her money to get something to eat and sent her there." She saw the look of pure joy on her wife's face and couldn't help but smile back, "Let's go get our baby."

~*THE FOSTERS*~

She saw Stef's green shirt and Lena's red sweater and watched the two girls that came with her leave before she started feeling the pressure of what she'd done by calling them.

There was no one else in the diner when the two women walked in, looking around for their wayward child. Well, no one, that is, except an African American woman standing at the counter watching to see where they would sit.

"We'll be closin' in a few minutes, ladies," the woman at the counter opened with. "Can I get you anything to go?"

Stef was the one who stood still, scanning the other booths in the restaurant.

"We're looking for someone," Lena said as she approached the woman, attempting to keep her voice steady. "She comes up to my shoulder, brown hair, brown eyes, thin…"

"She's our daughter," Stef chimed in as she continued looking around the room.

"You two are the young one's parents?"

"We are," Lena answered. "We were told she was here."

"She is," the woman answered her. "She's sitting at the back booth there." The woman came from behind the counter and gestured to the women's right. As both turned their heads, Callie shrunk down in the booth so that only a small bit of hair was peeking over the top. She then stared straight ahead, knowing that in the next five seconds, she was going to have to face the two women she knew she hurt beyond measure.

Their hurried footsteps came to a stop not far from the booth, and she heard the two women breathe out a deep sigh before they joined her in the booth.

This was the point things got confusing for the young teen.

They didn't try pulling her out of the booth to drag her back to Juvie, but the one that sat next to her wrapped her arms around the girl while the other one (who sat across from her) took her outstretched hands into her own; they didn't begin scolding her, but the one next to her whispered comforting words into her ear – "It's going to be all right, baby; you're safe now; you're not alone anymore; Mamas are here, and we're going to figure this out, I promise," – while the other one rubbed her thumb on the top of her hands, whispering how much she was missed and how worried they all had been for the last twenty-four hours.

She'd spent the last forty-five minutes telling herself that this wasn't really going to happen, so to have both of these women sitting with her was a stretch for even her own wants. She would've settled with hearing their voices and not have them show up; after all, isn't that what foster parents are supposed to do? Aren't they supposed to send the police to pick her up and bring her back before putting her in the first car from CDSS?

But they wanted to adopt her. How did that play into this?

Wanted, being the word. After this, how could they still want to adopt her? She hurt them; she let them down; she abandoned her brother; she kissed their son; she completely and totally messed this whole thing up for _everyone_.

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing their whispers to end. She tried to pull her hands back from the woman across from her; she tried to sink down in the booth, attempting to get away from the woman beside her.

Both women held tighter.

"Callie," the woman beside her began. "Callie, baby, you can't do this. You need to look at us."

"Open your eyes, sweetheart," the other one said. "We're not leaving you; we're not going anywhere."

Callie sat up straighter, but still continued pulling herself away from the two.

"Why?" she asked simply, still not opening her eyes. "Why did you come for me? I…"

The woman next to her pulled her back toward her and secured her against her side while placing a kiss on the teen's temple. "You what, love?"

"I…can't…" Callie had to take a deep breath. "I can't…do _this_. I'm not…" She took another deep breath which only served to make her breathing harder as tried to continue holding back the tears.

"You're not what, Callie?" This was from the woman across from her.

The teenage girl broke, then. "I'm not _allowed!_"

Both women's eyebrows darted to the top of their foreheads as they looked at the crying teenager.

"Not allowed?" the one across from her asked quietly. "What does that mean, Callie? What aren't you allowed?"

"Any of this," the teenager sobbed. "I'm not allowed to…to…" She stopped for a moment to catch her breath as she felt the woman's arms who was sitting next to her tighten around her shoulders. "I'm not allowed to have this – not you, not Jude, not anyone!"

"Honey, what are you talking about? Of _course_ you're allowed to have us – _all _of us. Callie, look at me, babe." The woman across from the teenager waited a few moments before Callie looked up and met her eyes.

Lena's heart almost broke at how lost and broken the girl looked. She looked nothing like the girl that she'd picked up from the Juvenile Detention Center; quite the opposite, actually, and Lena had a hard time recognizing this girl in front of her. The girl she picked up was strong, despite the pleading look in her eyes at the mention of the group home; she was determined, hell-bent on getting in contact with someone she called, 'Jude.' The girl she'd picked up sat on trial two days ago, facing her rapist, in an attempt to get justice for what happened to her, bravely denying any kind of allegation that this act was 'consensual,' while having the defense attorney rip into her file – her history – clearly trying to call her a liar. The girl she'd picked up sat in their living room, seemingly happy beyond measure at the idea of being adopted along with her brother.

Now, that girl was completely shattered, and tears ran down Lena's face at the thought that she may not be able to be put back together. Stef was right; something happened. This went far beyond getting freaked out by the permanence of adoption. Something broke their little girl.

"Callie, I want you to listen to me and listen very carefully," Lena began as she switched her grip on the teenager's hands. "Stef and I love you. We want you as part of our family; we want to be your forever family. Whatever this—" She gestured around the diner without letting go of the teen's hands. "—this running away is, we will figure it out, and we'll do it as a family. You are not alone anymore, Sweetheart, so please – _please – _let us in; let us be your moms."

She wanted to nod her head; she wanted to break down in Stef's arms. She wanted so badly to open up to the two women sitting with her, but she knew exactly what would happen if they knew the truth.

Noticing Callie's apprehension, after another half-beat, Stef reached out with her free hand and grabbed a hold of Lena's closest hand to her.

"What do you say we get _this _one_ – _" She squeezed Callie's shoulders a bit, hugging her closer to her side. " – out of here and back to the hotel where we can get a few days' rest, and head back home in a couple of days?"

"That is a great idea," Lena exclaimed softly. "I think we could all use some sleep."

Stef planted a few more kisses onto Callie's temple before beginning to stand, pulling the subdued teen out of the booth with her.

The moment they were standing, Lena reached out, taking Callie into her own arms and breathing deeply of the girl's presence.

"I'm _so_ glad you're all right," she breathed into the teen's ear, squeezing her a little bit tighter.

"We both are," Stef added as she placed one hand into one of Lena's while rubbing Callie's back with the other.

Callie stood in shock for a moment before wrapping her arms around the slender woman's torso. They stood like that for a minute before they pulled apart, and Stef said, "Let's go."

~*THE FOSTERS*~

Lena could barely keep her eyes open as Stef pulled into the parking lot of the motel where they were staying. However, she wouldn't give up her current position for anything. Callie was nestled under her arm, resting her head on the matriarch's shoulders. They had agreed at the diner that Lena would sit in the back with Callie while Stef drove back to the motel – something about getting equal holding-time.

Once Stef pulled into a parking space, Lena gently shook the sleeping teenager awake while pulling her arm back around. Callie stirred and both moms helped get her inside where she climbed on the bed furthest from the door and tried to press herself into the farthest corner away from the two women. Both mothers noticed that she looked more like a caged animal that was being cornered by predators now than a tired teenager. They were getting nowhere tonight with her, and even if they wanted to, it was going to be difficult. All three of them were exhausted, and despite needing to know what was going on with their child, Lena knew trying to get information out of her when she was like this was going to be near impossible.

Now, all she had to do was convince Stef of that. True to her nature, Stef wanted to get this talk out of the way so they could all concentrate on how to move forward from this. She was never one to let things just sit and fester if she could help it, but Lena had hoped she was conveying that this was one time it would have to sit – at least until later this morning. Right now, they all needed sleep.

"Okay, Honey," Lena started as she sat on the corner of the bed furthest from the frightened girl, glancing up at her wife. Getting the nod of encouragement from Stef, she continued, thankful that her wife was relinquishing control, "Why don't you go and grab a quick shower and change? We're all going to get some sleep, and then when we wake up later, we'll talk, okay?"

Callie looked from one mother to the next, her eyes settling on Stef's, who smiled slightly as she said, "It's okay, Sweets. Your bag's under the sink." The young girl slid off the bed, and went into the bathroom. After a few moments, they heard the water begin running, and both mothers let out their breaths.

Lena stood and went into her wife's arms.

"What are we going to do, Lena?" Stef asked as she held the woman to her. "It's almost like we're right back at square one with her."

"I know, Stef," Lena answered as she held onto her wife. "But we're just going to have to rebuild that trust with her, and we will. Once she sees that we aren't going to abandon her, she'll open up again."

"But did we even have it to begin with?" Stef let the embrace go and paced toward the door. "If something about the adoption was worrying her or scaring her, I thought we'd gotten to the point where she could come to one of us. I just…"

"I know. Believe me, babe. I know."

Both women jumped slightly as they heard the bathroom door open. As they turned around, they saw the teenager barely stumbling out into the front of the hotel room. They smiled at the girl, but when they saw the expression on the girl's face, their smiles faltered. The moment their eyes all connected, Callie's face broke, and the two mothers watched the floodgates open.

The girl slid to the floor at the foot of the bed and pulled her knees up, burying her head in them. The sobs came faster, and both mothers went to her and took her into their arms. The girl didn't fight them, and neither parent could figure out if it was due to exhaustion or if it had something to do with why she ran away in the first place.

Lena figured it was probably a little bit of both, but mostly exhaustion. The last few days have been hard on her, from the trial to the idea of adoption to the wedding – it's a lot to process for an adult. She couldn't imagine what all of it looked like to the teenager.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard her wife's soothing voice, whispering something to the young girl.

"It's going to be all right, baby," she was whispering. "You're going to be all right. Lena and I are here; we're not letting you go. We're not ever letting you go…"

"You should," came Callie's sobs. "You should let me go…"

Stef tightened her grip on the girl. "No, my love, no. We shouldn't…"

Callie pulled out of the women's embrace and stood up, pacing in front of the two. "But you don't know," she said as she crossed her arms across her middle, her sobs turning to hiccups (and painful ones by the look of it). "You don't know what happened! You don't…"

Stef stood while Lena positioned herself on the edge of the bed. Stef took the girl's arms into her hands and forced the girl to look her in the eye.

"Callie, Honey," she said calmingly, "tonight, I don't _care_ what happened. Tonight, we are going to get some much needed sleep. Since you left at some point during our wedding night, I can't imagine you've slept well – if at all – since before the trial, and that was three days ago. Lena and I have been looking for you since the moment we found out you'd run way. We are going to sleep, and we'll talk about this in the morning."

"But…"

Stef silenced her with a finger to her lips. "In the morning, Love. We are all exhausted. We'll be in a better frame of mind to talk once we get some real sleep."

For a moment, the two looked each other in the eye, and when Callie spoke again, it wasn't an argument.

"I'll sleep on the couch," she offered softly, moving slowly toward the two-seater.

"No." Lena stood and redirected the teenager to the bed. "Either Stef or I will take the sofa bed. You are going to be in the bed with either Stef or me. It's your choice."

"Actually, Love," Stef started as she smirked a bit and approached the two, "it may be a good idea for you to take the bed. I may accidentally handcuff the girl to the bed if she moves."

Lena threw her a conspiring smile. "Accidentally?"

Stef only shrugged as she took the teenager from her wife and led her to the side of the bed furthest from the door and helped her lay down.

"Why don't you go get changed while I put this one to bed? I'll sit with her until you get back."

Lena smiled as she reached to the foot of the bed and picked up her pajamas before heading into the bathroom.

Stef pulled the covers up and around the girl's shoulders before sitting on the edge of the bed and brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Close your eyes, baby," she said softly. "We love you."

"But you won't," Callie said as tears welled in the teen's eyes once again. "You won't." The girl turned over, away from Stef's touch.

Stef shifted her position slightly as she turned and lay behind the teenager, taking her into her arms and holding her tight.

"Nothing," she whispered into the girl's ear, "could make us stop loving you. I really need you to hear that, baby. _Nothing_ can make us stop."

"Stef's right," Lena's voice came from the other side of the bed. "There is nothing that you can tell us that would make us stop loving you." She climbed into the bed and under the covers as Stef grabbed her own pajamas and went into the bathroom to change.

She stood in front of the mirror, looking at her reflection. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to make sense of the sudden dread that crept into her stomach. What could possibly have happened over the course of twelve hours that would make Callie believe so wholeheartedly that they would hate her and the only way out was to take off?

_Well,_ she thought to herself as she splashed a bit of water on her face, _I guess we'll find out in the morning…_

She exited the bathroom once she was changed and smiled at the sight on the bed. Callie hadn't changed positions (if anything, she may have moved further away from Lena), but Lena's hand was draped slightly over the girl's head, stroking her temple. Callie seemed more relaxed, despite being nearly on the edge.

In the morning…

* * *

Coming Up...

The Honeymoon - Part 2: What if the reason for Callie running away was more than just Jude and Brandon?


End file.
